Can abs actually SEE divers approaching?

I noticed when I approach some abs, they were already in the process of clamping down.  I tried to be very quiet, not bang on the rocks; but I was probably grabbing on to kelp stems.  Could it be that they can actually see me coming??

From what I have read, they can "see" shadows/light changes, so when we block light or shine a light on them maybe they "sense" it and clamp down??

I aint no expert though!!

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

They do have a pair of primative eyes and Otis believed the can see things like shadows.  I'm guessing the sight of a divers shadow could 'scare' them.

Here is a good article about Abalone body parts...

http://www.marinebio.net/marinescience/06future/abintro.htm

interesting

JFC they do have eyes, i thought this was a joke.

Though i'd think they have the consciousness of a snail/slug, being a mollusk, and are not conscious of any thing faster than about a second. not to say i can dive down, find one and pop one off in less than a second, but fyi fastest we are aware of stuff is about 1/10 to 1/20 of a second, and how fast can we react. So diving down finding one in ten seconds if it saw us comming the whole time, it would still barely have time to process whats going on and react.

Like others have said they SE light and dark, they do not SE shapes. Here is a link to the Marine science web site that explains all about the abalone biology and eye's every thing you want to know.



http://www.marinebio.net/marinescience/06future/abintro.htm

"Can abs actually SEE divers approaching?"

Not in the mud I'm in most of the time.   

Seriuosly though, if they "got scared" every time a shadow moved over them they wouldn't be very good at eating kelp (that waves around over them in the current for their entire life...).  Now, if you added some other environmental factors, such as clanging on the rocks with metal or hard plastic tools, or shining flashlights on them, or movement that differs significantly from the kelp that is constantly moving around them, those are things that I think abalone can sense and react to.

If they could see very well I don't think I would be able to knock them off the rocks with my hands periodically - Ab Fu.